THE UNIVERSITY DIARY KANSAN
wEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2006
SPORTS
3B
REBOUNDING (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
According to Bonnie Henrickson, women's basketball coach, the Jayhawks need to improve their rebounding. Henrickson also said the Jayhawks have improved their three-point shooting.
the last two games, including four three-point shots. The Westerwinds have an outstanding freshman of their own. Jordon O'Brien has come off of the bench in all five Western Illinois games to shoot 71 percent and average eight points. It will be a homecoming of sorts for O'Brien, who is from Parsons.
Western Illinois has won four straight Mid-Continent Conference titles, but its record stands at only 1-4 this year. The Westerwinds return only one starter from last year's team that went 23-7, senior point guard DeeDee Murphy.'
Murphy is averaging 10 points per game this season and has 17 assists. To slow down her production, senior guard Shaquina Mosley and sophomore guard Ivana Catic will have to disrupt passing lanes.
Catic saw her first start of the sea.
son on Monday. She failed to score but added three steals for the season to her team-high of eight, a statistic more important to Henrickson.
Catic also leads the team with 11 assists. It's unsure if Catic will start her second straight game as the third guard or Henrickson will return to a more traditional lineup with freshman forward Sade Morris.
Morris started the first three games but came off of the bench last Monday. She's third in both points, with 8.5 per game, and rebounds, with four per game, for the Jayhawks this season.
Kansan sportswriter Case Keefer can be contacted at ckeefer@kansan.com.
- Edited by Brett Bolton
Falcons in need of revival
NFL
BY PAUL NEWBERRY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA — After watching the Atlanta Falcons lose their fourth straight game, owner Arthur Blank grabbed a front-row seat in the interview room to hear what Jim Mora and Michael Vick had to say.
Blank also pored over a stat sheet, whispering some thoughts to his top lieutenant while trying to figure out how another promising has totally unraveled heading into the final month.
This owner demands immediate results. If things don't turn around over the next five weeks, the Falcons are certainly headed for big changes — starting with several members of Mora's staff and maybe extending all the way to the head coach himself.
Technically, Atlanta (5-6) still has time to turn things around in the mediocre NFC, where 6-5 would be good enough for the wild card if the season ended today.
But after going 0-for-November, the Falcons are below .500 for the first time in Mora's three-year tenure and giving off few signs of being a team that can pull out of its slide before it's too late.
Three of the losses during past month were by double-figure margins — the only exception being an inexcusable 17-13 home loss to woeful Cleveland (3-8). The Falcons were blown out 30-14 at Detroit, one of only two games the Lions have won this season. Last Sunday, Atlanta was all but eliminated from the NFC West race by a 31-13 loss to the Saints, who essentially have a three-game lead on the Falcons when the tiebreaker is factored in.
What makes this more troubling is just how familiar it seems.
A year ago, coming off a giddy run to the NFC championship game in Mora's rookie season as a head coach, the Falcons started 6-2 and were thinking Super Bowl. They wound up losing six of their last eight, extending the 40-year-old franchise's inglorious streak of never
having back-to-back winning seasons.
Now, it's happening all over again. In one month, the Falcons have gone from being 5-2 and angling for home-field advantage in the playoffs to showing all the telltale signs of a team in disarray.
The offense is a mess, an incompatible juxtaposition of coordinator Greg Knapp's West Coast-style passing schemes and the zone-blocking tactics used by the guys up front, who answer to de facto line coach Alex Gibbs.
Vick has never taken to Knapp's philosophy, which relies on short drops and quick reads that seem ill-suited for a 6-foot quarterback who has trouble seeing over his linemen. Vick is the 25th-rated quarterback in the NFL and, most stunning, has never put up better numbers playing in Knapp's offense than he did in his one full season working with former coach Dan Reeves.
Meanwhile, the shadowy Gibbs — who's technically a "consultant" — prefers smaller, quicker linemen who'll carry out his controversial blocking tactics in the running game but are leaker than a colander when it comes to pass blocking. Vick may be the best running quarterback in NFL history, but he's still managed to get sacked 29 times playing behind a no-name group that has zero Pro Bows on its collective resume.
When Vick does get off a pass, tight end Alge Crumpler is about the only reliable receiver on the team. Former first-round picks Michael Jenkins and Roddy White have been major disappointments. Ashley Lelie hasn't had the impact everyone expected when he came to the Falcons in a trade for T.J. Duckett.
Last week, Vick's receivers dropped five passes, the most damaging of those coming early in the fourth quarter when a wide-open White let the ball slip from his hands at the New Orleans 10 after the defender fell down. That snuffed the life out of the Falcons, who were down 21-13 at the time but totally
fell apart the rest of the way.
Mora insists he isn't planning any changes on his staff, but what else do you expect him to say about guys — several of them close friends — who are still on the payroll? Clearly, Knapp and receivers coach George Stewart are on shaky ground. And the Falcons wouldn't be able to hire a competent replacement for Knapp as long as Gibbs is hanging around.
If someone doesn't show up soon for the Falcons, this team is headed for a major shakeup.
DAVIS (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
As I conclude, this season was a major disappointment. The team led 11 of its 12 games, surrendering leads in the fourth quarter. The coaching was suspect all year, and when you get down to it, has been for most of Mangino's regime. Granted Kansas football is better now than it was when Terry Allen was here, but how much so? And if 6-6 is all we can get when this team has an easy schedule, can we ever expect to, I don't know, surpass Kansas State?
Edited by Jacky Carter
HAPPY 21ST RYAN BALL!
MESSIAH
Come be a part of our 'sing-in' of Handel's Messiah
featuring the Consort Choir conducted by Henry Heller Smith
on Wednesday Nov. 29th at 7:30pm
A reception will follow in Parish Hall.
All are welcome!
This event is free of charge but a free will offering will be taken.
Trinity Episcopal Church
1011 Vermont St. • 785-843-6166 www.trinitylawrence.org